This is the WA State Budget for 2026-27 in plain language. Each item is the name, the dollar amount, and what it actually does. I've grouped them by area of society. The Budget is a $13.2 billion capital program (the new things being built) plus a $52.5 billion operating budget (the year-to-year cost of running the State, up 6.9 percent on last year). Health alone accounts for 32 percent of all general government spending at $16.7 billion. This post can't cover everything; it covers the biggest items and the new ones, with sources at the end.

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Health, mental health, and disability

New Women and Babies Hospital: $1.78 billion total. Replacing King Edward Memorial Hospital. Construction underway, foundation piling done in early April. The biggest single hospital project in the Budget.

Bunbury Hospital Redevelopment: $572 million. Major upgrade of the regional hospital, ramp-up across the next four years.

Joondalup Health Campus Stage 2: $301 million. Public hospital expansion at the privately-operated Joondalup Health Campus.

Mt Lawley Hospital: $168 million. State Government acquiring and transitioning the hospital. The bulk ($153 million) flows in 2026-27.

Building Hospitals Fund: $2.86 billion total capacity. A pool of money for hospital infrastructure, originally $1.5 billion plus $1.36 billion transferred in from the Women and Babies Hospital Account when it closes in June. Currently funding the new Mandurah Hospital, Geraldton Radiation Oncology, Royal Perth ED Expansion, Albany Health Campus Expansion, and a future contribution to a Perkins Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

Bentley Health Service Surgicentre: $167 million. New surgical centre.

Graylands Reconfiguration and Forensics Project: $187 million. Major redevelopment of the forensic mental health facility.

Geraldton Health Campus Redevelopment: $192 million. Most of the spend ($114 million) was in 2025-26.

New Mandurah Hospital: $149 million. New hospital build, funded through the Building Hospitals Fund.

Tom Price Hospital: $93 million (with a $20 million contribution from Rio Tinto). Pilbara hospital redevelopment.

Fremantle Hospital 40-Bed Mental Health Project: $81 million. Inpatient mental health beds. The Government had to top this up by $16 million this year because construction costs went over.

Mullewa Community Hospital: $23 million. Yamatji country hospital redevelopment. The Government had to top this up by $13 million this year.

Step Up/Step Down Mental Health Facilities: $63 million across four locations. Broome ($19 million), Karratha ($20 million), South Hedland ($18 million), and a metropolitan youth facility ($6 million). Step Up/Step Down is mental health bridging accommodation between hospital and community.

Rockingham Mental Health Emergency Centre: $19 million. New mental health ED.

Armadale Mental Health Emergency Centre: $21 million. New mental health ED.

Anti-Ligature Remediation Program: $26 million. Statewide bed safety upgrades to prevent self-harm in mental health units.

Renal Dialysis Centre Halls Creek: $25 million. New regional dialysis centre.

Broome Renal Hostel: $23 million. Accommodation for regional renal patients.

Wirraka Maya Aboriginal Health Service expansion: $10 million. Pilbara Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service expansion.

WA Health digital transformation: about $608 million combined. Includes a new Critical Health ICT Infrastructure Program ($139 million), a statewide Electronic Medical Record Program ($158 million), a Human Resource Management Information System ($275 million), and a State Health Operations Centre ($15 million). These are the systems that doctors, nurses, and hospital admin actually use.

Hospital cladding remediation: $96 million. Removal and replacement of dangerous aluminium composite panel cladding from Fiona Stanley, Perth Children's, QEII, and Building B.

Mental Health Commission infrastructure: $22 million. A new 20-bed AOD rehabilitation facility in metro Perth ($10 million), and an AOD Sobering Up Centre in Broome ($12 million).

Foundational Supports (Thriving Kids): $119 million Commonwealth funding. New Commonwealth program for early childhood disability supports outside the NDIS, beginning in 2026-27.

National Health Reform Agreement: $21.6 billion Commonwealth funding across 2026-27 to 2030-31. This is the main Commonwealth contribution to running WA hospitals, about $5 billion a year by 2029-30.

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Cost of living and household charges

Representative household 2026-27: $6,450.19 in tariffs and charges. That's a $222 decrease from last year, lowest household basket in five years. Seventh year running that household charges have stayed at or below inflation.

Public transport: $820 per household, down 18 percent. First full year of the $3.50 Go Anywhere Fare introduced in January 2026.

Electricity: $2,086 per household, up 2.75 percent.

Water, wastewater, drainage: $1,968 per household, up 2.75 percent.

Motor vehicles: $1,064 per household, up 3.4 percent.

Emergency Services Levy: $354 per household, up 5 percent.

$100 Fuel Support Payments: minus $200 per two-driver household. Fuel relief offset built into the household basket calculation.

Synergy financial viability subsidies: $1.279 billion over four years. This is the State paying Synergy to keep residential electricity prices below cost. Includes a brand new Cost Growth Assistance Payment ($355 million over four years) explicitly described as funding "the under-recovery of the A1 tariff that cannot be passed on to residential customers." Cost recovery from residential electricity dropped from 78 percent to 75 percent this year.

Country Water Pricing Subsidy: $2.722 billion over four years. State subsidising regional water customers because cost recovery in regional WA is 53 percent versus closer to 100 percent in metro.

Synergy Energy Assistance Payment: $97 million, 312,325 recipients. Concession on electricity bills for eligible households. Government endorsed a 10 percent uplift this Budget.

Local Government Rates Pensioner/Senior Rebates: $149 million, 263,000 recipients. Rates rebates for pensioners and seniors.

Seniors Cost of Living Rebate: $35 million, 373,000 recipients. Annual rebate for WA Seniors Card holders.

Regional Pensioner Travel Card: $41 million, 64,000 recipients. Card value rose 17 percent to $775 per year, announced in last year's Budget, full-year impact now.

Permanently Disabled Taxi Subsidy: $23 million, 11,800 recipients. Subsidised taxi travel for people with permanent disabilities.

WA Rent Relief Program: $20 million combined ($13.5 million continuing plus $6.5 million top-up). Direct rent assistance for vulnerable tenants.

First home buyers transfer duty changes from 7 May 2026. Full stamp duty exemption up to $600,000 (was lower). Concessional rate to $800,000. Vacant land exemption to $450,000, phasing out at $550,000.

Off-the-plan transfer duty concession: extended to survey-strata schemes, continues until 30 June 2028.

Energy Bill Relief Fund Commonwealth: $175 million, ending 2025-26. No Commonwealth follow-on funding has been announced for 2026-27.

Total social concessions in 2026-27: $4.4 billion. Includes $2.7 billion in operating subsidies for electricity, water, and public transport.

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Housing

Investment in Additional Homes: $1.4 billion total. The main pool funding new social housing builds across the four years to 2029-30.

Government Regional Officer Housing Program: $676 million. GROH provides housing in regional WA for State employees, teachers, nurses, police, public servants. The biggest single year is 2027-28 at $123 million.

Social and Affordable Housing Investment Fund: $2.9 billion total since inception. Government's commitment is to deliver 9,800 social and affordable housing dwellings by 2029-30. $723 million approved this Budget for 844 dwellings, refurbishing 215 properties, and acquiring land for about 233 more.

100,000 Homes for First Home Buyers: $212 million Commonwealth funding across 2026-27 to 2028-29. Federal contribution to the new homes program.

National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness: $1 billion Commonwealth funding across 2024-25 to 2028-29.

Court Place Social and Affordable Housing Development: $98 million. New mixed social/affordable development in central Perth, mostly built across 2026-27 and 2027-28.

Common Ground Mandurah: $56 million; Common Ground Perth: $90 million. Housing First model, supportive housing combining accommodation with on-site services for people experiencing chronic homelessness.

Smith Street Build to Rent: $72 million. New build-to-rent development.

Affordable Rental Build Program: $103 million. New affordable rentals.

Land Acquisition Program: $460 million. Buying land for future social housing.

Aboriginal Short Stay Accommodation: Geraldton $29 million, Perth $27 million. Short-stay accommodation for Aboriginal people travelling to regional cities for medical or family reasons.

Stirling Women's Refuge: $23 million. Domestic violence refuge expansion.

New Innaloo Refuge: $18 million. New domestic violence refuge.

Regional Supportive Landlord Program: $50 million. Government acting as landlord-of-last-resort to keep regional rental supply functioning.

Refurbishment of existing social housing: $186 million.

500 Homes for First Home Buyers Provision: $375 million held in reserve. Specific locations and dwelling types not announced.

Country Housing Authority abolished 19 March 2026. Functions absorbed into the Housing Authority and DevelopmentWA.

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Education and training

Cool the Schools: $89 million. Air conditioning rollout to schools across WA.

Brabham Senior High School: $144 million. Largest single new high school project, currently under planning name.

Alkimos North Senior High School: $52 million. Second new high school for the Alkimos area, on top of Alkimos College Stage 2 ($51 million).

Four new primary schools opening 2028: $202 million total. Eglinton North ($48 million), Treeby East ($46 million), Vasse West ($53 million), Yanchep East ($55 million).

East Perth Primary School: $168 million. Largest single new primary school project.

New primary schools 2029-2032: $250 million held for future schools where locations haven't been picked yet.

18 named schools getting Additions and Improvements: $160 million combined. From Karrinyup Primary ($27 million) and Como Secondary College ($31 million) at the larger end down to small upgrades. Also Belridge Secondary College $18 million, Champion Bay Senior High $23 million, Eastern Hills Senior High $1.5 million, Geraldton Senior High $8 million, and others.

Additional Classroom Capacity: $353 million rolling program for adding classrooms where enrolments grow.

Schools Asset Renewal Program: $76 million (new this Budget). Maintenance and Minor Works Targeted Upgrades, $40 million (new this Budget, funded by dissolving the Public Education Endowment Trust).

Air Conditioning Replacement Program: $61 million. Replacing existing aircon systems.

Schools Clean Energy Technology Fund: $40 million. Royalties for Regions funding for solar and battery installations at regional schools.

Boosting Before and After School Care in Schools: $10 million. Expanding OSHC programs in public schools.

Land Acquisition for new schools: $216 million combined. Land for primary schools $148 million plus general land acquisition $68 million.

Better and Fairer Schools Agreement: $8.1 billion Commonwealth funding across 2024-25 to 2034-35. The main Commonwealth schools funding agreement, ramping up to $1.74 billion in 2029-30.

National Skills Agreement: $1.4 billion Commonwealth funding across 2023-24 to 2028-29. Funds vocational training and TAFE.

Munster TAFE Expansion: $25 million. Expansion of Munster TAFE for renewable industries training (wind, batteries, hydrogen, electrification, robotics).

Pundulmurra Trade Expansion (South Hedland): $44 million. Expansion of Pundulmurra TAFE in South Hedland for Aboriginal trades training.

Balga Campus Specialist Teaching Block: $51 million. Specialist trade teaching facility at North Metropolitan TAFE Balga.

Joondalup Light Auto Workshop: $20 million. Automotive trades training expansion.

Investing in Modern Equipment for TAFEs: $43 million. Equipment upgrades across TAFE colleges.

Clean Energy Skills National Centre of Excellence: $37 million Commonwealth funding for renewables training equipment.

Midland Specialist Rail Trade Training Centre: $5 million. Rail trades training, supports METRONET delivery.

Construction Visa Subsidy Program plus Build a Life in WA: $5 million for an additional 1,000 places. Subsidies to bring construction workers to WA.

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Police, justice, defence, and AUKUS

Fremantle District Police Complex: $151 million. New Fremantle police complex, currently under construction.

Kimberley District Support Facility: $43 million. New facility, mostly funded in 2026-27 ($33 million).

Police Helicopter Replacement: $48 million. Fleet helicopter renewal.

Police ICT Optimisation Program: $38 million across two tranches (2024-2028 plus 2029-2032). Modernising police systems.

Police Asset Equipment Management Program: $58 million across two tranches.

Firearm Reform Program ICT Implementation: $26 million plus the National Firearms Register at $6 million.

Forrestfield Police Station: $26 million. New police station.

Land Forces Expo 2026: $10.5 million for security operations, plus $4.4 million capital, plus $2.1 million top-up for capital. Major defence industry expo.

WA Government Cyber Security Operations Centre expansion: $8 million. Cyber defence capability uplift.

New Youth Detention Facility: $159 million (separate from Banksia Hill). Location, capacity, and operating model not described in the Budget Papers.

Banksia Hill Detention Centre Upgrades: $67 million plus a new Crisis Care Unit ($2.5 million). Youth detention facility upgrade and new mental health unit.

Casuarina Prison Expansion Stage Two: $263 million. Adult prison expansion.

Acacia Prison Expansion Project: $227 million. Adult prison expansion.

Roebourne Regional Prison Air-Conditioning: $18 million. Air-conditioning upgrade for the regional prison.

Greenough Regional Prison Female Unit Upgrade: $12 million.

Court Audiovisual Maintenance and Enhancements: $29 million. Modernising AV in courts.

District Court Building Technical Upgrade: $18 million (new).

Offender Digital Services Platform Prisoner Telephone System: $11 million. Replacing the prisoner phone system.

National Access to Justice Partnership: $515 million Commonwealth funding across 2025-26 to 2029-30. Main Commonwealth legal aid funding.

AUKUS Defence Industry Incentive Scheme: appears in the Budget for the first time. Surfaces as a $3.4 million timing reduction in a Treasurer's Advance line item. Full scope and recipients not described.

Henderson Stage 1 Continuity of Service Funding: $30 million Commonwealth in 2025-26 only. What specific Henderson services this covers is not described.

AMC Landing Craft Heavy Program: $30 million (new). DevelopmentWA project for the Australian Marine Complex landing craft program.

Pilbara Ports Common User Upgrades: $430 million Commonwealth funding across 2023-24 to 2028-29.

Fire and Emergency Services: ~$254 million combined across the rolling Primary Fleet ($218 million), the Wanneroo Emergency Management Complex ($18 million election commitment), and the Yanchep Career Fire and Rescue Station ($18 million).

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Transport

Tonkin Highway Gap Project: $1.93 billion. Hale, Welshpool, and Kelvin Roads connections plus Stage Three Extension. The biggest single road project after Bunbury Outer Ring Road. Spread across the next four years.

Bunbury Outer Ring Road: $1.54 billion total. Major South West regional road.

Reseal Program Capitalisation: $1.19 billion. Rolling road resurfacing across the State network.

Anketell Road Construction: $974 million. Major road, back-loaded to 2028-29 and 2029-30.

Kwinana Freeway Widening: $700 million. Southern Suburbs Roads Package election commitment.

Reid Highway and Erindale Road Grade Separation: $450 million. Big interchange project, mostly built in 2028-29.

Fremantle Traffic Bridge / Queen Victoria Street: $597 million. Replacing the Fremantle bridge crossing the Swan River.

METRONET projects combined: about $6.58 billion. Forrestfield-Airport Link $1.84 billion + Byford Rail Extension $1.45 billion + Yanchep Rail Extension $1.34 billion + Level Crossing Removal Victoria Park-Canning $1.53 billion + New Midland Station $417 million.

High Capacity Signalling Program: $3.02 billion. Modernising the rail signalling system across the network.

Bus Electrification: $664 million. Election commitment to electrify the Perth bus fleet.

Railcar Programme combined: $1.6 billion. Australind Railcar Replacement $162 million + Railcar Acquisition $511 million + Railcar Replacement $945 million.

Land Transport Infrastructure Projects: $7.59 billion Commonwealth funding across 2024-25 to 2028-29. The main Commonwealth roads funding pipeline, the largest single Commonwealth contribution to WA across the period.

Tanami Road: $36 million Royalties for Regions. Strategic regional road sealing.

Outback Way: $48 million Royalties for Regions. Continuing the Outback Way upgrade.

Lumsden Point General Cargo Facility (Pilbara Ports): $629 million. New port infrastructure at Port Hedland.

Dampier Bulk Handling Facility: $356 million. Port infrastructure.

Hedland Maritime Initiative: $256 million. Port Hedland infrastructure.

Port Hedland Channel Zone 5 Bypass: $50 million (new, port-user funded).

Port Maximisation Project (Geraldton): $367 million. Mid West Ports redevelopment.

Fremantle Port Sustaining Capital Works: $145 million plus other Fremantle Port works totalling $592 million.

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Aboriginal affairs and Closing the Gap

Major Projects Fund: $500 million (new this Budget). Established to support the Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Scitech relocation.

Aboriginal Cultural Centre: $50 million in the project list, plus the $500 million Major Projects Fund. Location, design, governance, and curatorial arrangements not yet described in the Budget Papers. Cashflow back-loaded: most of the spend ($19 million) falls in 2029-30.

Stolen Generations Redress Scheme: $300 million committed. Administration $7 million plus $120 million in payments to eligible applicants in 2025-26.

Yamatji Nation Settlement: $3 million. Implementation of the settlement with Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation.

Nyamba Buru Yawuru Health and Wellbeing Campus: $9 million combined. Yawuru community development including $6 million retail component.

Wirraka Maya Aboriginal Health Service expansion: $10 million. Pilbara ACCHS expansion.

Foundational Supports (Thriving Kids): $119 million Commonwealth funding for early childhood disability support outside the NDIS.

Royalties for Regions Regional Reform Fund: $30 million additional over four years. Supports Kimberley Schools Project, on-country residential youth facilities, ACCO employee housing grants, Pilbara Safe Spaces program, and East Kimberley/Hedland transitional housing.

North West Aboriginal Housing Fund: $41 million. Housing in the Kimberley and Pilbara.

Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation Transition Pipeline: $22 million across four years. Pilot housing program transferring to Aboriginal-led organisations.

Pilbara Aboriginal Home Ownership Program: $19 million across four years.

Aboriginal and Islander Education Officers: $14 million Royalties for Regions across four years. Aboriginal staff in regional schools.

Broome Family and Domestic Violence Hub: $18 million Royalties for Regions across four years, plus the new Broome Aboriginal-Led Specialist Family Violence Court ($6 million), the first of its kind in WA.

Renal Hostels: $14 million Royalties for Regions. Halls Creek and Broome combined.

South West Aboriginal Medical Service Health Hub: $18 million Royalties for Regions across four years.

North West Drug and Alcohol Support Program (Kimberley): $28 million Royalties for Regions across four years.

Sister Kate's Aboriginal Aged Care: $25 million total, operated by Hall & Prior.

Buccaneer Archipelago Marine Parks: $13 million Royalties for Regions in 2026-27 (Bardi Jawi sea country).

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Energy and water

Clean Energy Fund: $1.4 billion (new this Budget). A new pool of money for clean energy projects, supporting the Clean Energy Link East transmission expansion in the South West Interconnected System. The fund is accumulating in the early years; no payments scheduled in the published table to 2029-30.

Clean Energy Link (Western Power project): $1.87 billion. Transmission expansion in the South West Interconnected System. Big year is 2026-27 at $574 million.

Western Power total Asset Investment Program: $19 billion. Across all four years. The biggest chunks are network maintenance ($4.8 billion in distribution overhead), customer-funded works ($3.5 billion), business and ICT systems ($2 billion), and asset replacement ($1.6 billion).

Standalone Power Systems: $565 million. Solar-and-battery systems replacing distribution lines for remote properties.

Network Undergrounding: $440 million. Putting overhead lines underground.

King Rocks Wind Farm (Synergy): $503 million. New wind farm.

Synergy generation and storage: $543 million combined. Muja Power Station $173 million + Cockburn Gas Turbine $153 million + Pinjar Gas Turbine $121 million + Kwinana Power Station $86 million + others.

Synergy Business Systems Replacement: $90 million. ERP and core systems replacement.

Synergy Cost Growth Assistance Payment: $355 million over four years (new this Budget). State subsidy paid to Synergy because residential electricity tariffs can't recover the full cost of supply.

Synergy Tranche 8 subsidy: $69 million over four years (new this Budget, beginning 2027-28). Compensates Synergy for new market rules requiring six hours of battery availability instead of four.

Synergy total financial viability subsidies: $1.279 billion over four years (combined: CGAP, System Security Transition Payment, NCESS Recovery, Tariff Equalisation Contribution Recovery, Tranche 8, and smaller items).

Tariff Equalisation Contribution: $290 million in 2026-27, $1.168 billion over four years. Cross-subsidy from commercial customers and Synergy to keep regional residential electricity prices uniform with metro.

Horizon Power total program: $1.38 billion. Asset Management Plan ($929 million) plus customer-funded works ($205 million) plus major projects ($59 million) plus remote communities ($189 million).

Horizon Power Transfer of Essential Services: $101 million plus $32 million Royalties for Regions. Aboriginal communities transitioning to Horizon Power for water, wastewater, and power services.

Horizon Power Advanced Metering Infrastructure: $23 million (new). Smart meters for remote communities.

Water Corporation total program: $13.7 billion. Across all four years. Main components: water supply capacity $3.5 billion, treatment capacity $1.06 billion, water network capacity $670 million, wastewater network capacity $1.05 billion, regional water supply $1.48 billion, regional water network $948 million.

Bunbury Water Resource Recovery Scheme: $58 million (new). New water recovery infrastructure.

Busselton Water Inland Borefield Transition Plant 8: $62 million. Climate adaptation water infrastructure.

Country Water Pricing Subsidy: $2.722 billion over four years. State subsidy to Water Corporation to keep regional water prices below cost.

COVID-19 Response Remote Aboriginal Communities Accelerated Works: $78 million. Continuing water and wastewater upgrades in remote Aboriginal communities.

Essential and Municipal Services Upgrade Program: $65 million. Aboriginal community water and wastewater upgrades.

Climate Action Fund: $265 million in drawdowns over four years. Includes $195 million for Department of Energy and Economic Diversification covering Collie transition, Kalgoorlie Vanadium Battery Energy Storage System, native forest logging transition, climate action and renewable hydrogen.

Pilbara Hydrogen Hub: about $68 million combined across multiple line items including the Clean Energy Training and Research Institute Pilbara ($11 million), hydrogen pipeline planning ($1 million), and Aboriginal community engagement payments ($2 million).

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Industry, manufacturing, and innovation

Strategic Industries Fund: $1 billion total commitment, $638 million still unallocated. Government's industrial precinct fund. $92 million allocated this Budget across Western Trade Coast/Kemerton land assembly ($51 million), Boodarie desalination planning ($21 million), and Western Trade Coast road planning ($13 million). The $638 million unallocated reserve is large, it's available for future industrial precincts not yet planned.

Made in WA Energy Affordability Investment Program: $156 million. Mostly low-interest loans ($153 million) plus administration. Supporting WA-based energy manufacturing.

Lithium and Nickel Industry Support Program: $45 million. Includes a $15 million interest-free loan facility for nickel producers. Direct industry support for lithium and nickel processing during commodity downturns.

Lithium Industry Support Program 2025-26 actuals, Synergy $13 million, Mid West Ports Authority $6 million, Southern Ports Authority $1 million.

Investment Attraction Fund Top-up: $30 million second round. New Energy Industries focus.

NeoSmelt Pilot Project: $75 million Kwinana. Rio Tinto, BHP, BlueScope, and Mitsui consortium for green steel pilot.

DPIRD New Metropolitan Facility: $320 million (new this Budget). Major new Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development headquarters and research facility, mostly built in 2028-29.

DPIRD Building Grains R&D Capacity: $12 million. Grains research investment.

State Barrier Fence: $28 million. Continuing the State Barrier Fence (biosecurity infrastructure).

Forest Products Commission Softwood Plantation Investment Program: $239 million total. Major softwood plantation expansion.

WA Agricultural Supply Chain Improvements: $29 million Royalties for Regions across three years (DPIRD), plus $177 million from PTA for rail freight upgrades.

Phase Out of Live Sheep Exports by Sea: $43 million Commonwealth funding across 2024-25 to 2028-29. Industry transition assistance.

(Defence industrial items, AUKUS Defence Industry Incentive Scheme, Henderson Stage 1 Continuity of Service, AMC Landing Craft Heavy Program, Defence West uplift, WA Government Cyber Security Operations Centre, are covered in the Police, justice, defence, and AUKUS section above.)

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AI and surveillance infrastructure

The Budget Papers don't aggregate AI spending into a single line. Adding up the items explicitly named as AI gives roughly $32 million across the forwards: the AI Investment Fund opening balance, the AI Investment Grants, the central AI Investment Fund and Rapid AI Delivery Team capability, the AI Solution for Teachers pilot, and the WA Vegetation AI mapping pilot.

Adding the digital infrastructure AI deployment runs on, where AI is a named or strongly implied component (Spatial WA, Health digital transformation, the broader Digital Capability Fund), takes the figure into the hundreds of millions.

The Digital Capability Fund draws $301 million in 2026-27 alone (a 19-fold increase from $16 million in 2025-26) and has been appropriated about $1.7 billion since 2021-22.

That central pool sits outside annual appropriation and funds the AI Investment Fund, Spatial WA, ServiceWA, the Cyber Security Unit, the Digital Driver's Licence, and other digital infrastructure.

Artificial Intelligence Investment Fund: a new Special Purpose Account established this Budget. Opening balance $5 million from 2026-27. The State's AI investment vehicle, sitting outside normal departmental procurement.

AI Investment Grants: $10 million ($5 million each in 2026-27 and 2027-28). Controlled grants under Premier and Cabinet, paired with the AI Investment Fund.

Central AI Investment Fund and Rapid AI Delivery Team: $12.3 million from the Digital Capability Fund. The central capability for whole-of-WA-Government AI rollout, run out of Premier and Cabinet.

AI Solution for Teachers: $4.6 million ($2.3 million annually 2026-27 and 2027-28). Generative AI pilot extension in WA public schools for lesson planning. Vendor not disclosed.

Spatial WA Program: about $55 million combined this Budget across new tranches. Spatial Digital Twin $22 million; Next Generation Spatial Cadastre $15 million (new); Spatial Applications Replacement $18 million (new). Spatial data systems with AI dimensions for environmental, planning, and infrastructure mapping.

WA Health digital transformation: about $608 million combined (also covered in the Health section). Critical Health ICT Infrastructure Program $139 million, Electronic Medical Record Program $158 million, Human Resource Management Information System $275 million, State Health Operations Centre $15 million, new Infectious Diseases Management System $2 million. AI and analytics dimensions, vendors not disclosed.

Microsoft Enterprise Agreement WA Health alone: $12.1 million in 2026-27. Plus CITS Microsoft Cloud Hosting and Licensing for the Cyber Security Operations Centre $3.5 million continuing, plus other agencies. The whole-of-WA-Government Microsoft footprint is substantial.

Public Transport Authority CCTV Program: $55.4 million total ($6.3 million in 2026-27, ongoing $5.6 to $8 million annually). Centralised CCTV across train stations and on-board, integrated with the Public Transport Operations and Control Centre. Video analytics and AI scope not described.

Digital Driver's Licence and Identity Ecosystem Uplift Phase 2: $8.3 million (new this Budget). Phase 2 of WA's digital identity rollout. Vendor not disclosed.

Office of the Information Commissioner: operational from 1 July 2025 under the Information Commissioner Act 2024. The Privacy and Responsible Information Sharing Act 2024 enforcement jurisdiction commences 1 July 2026, exactly as State digital identity, AI Investment Fund, and Digital Capability Fund expansion accelerate. New Case Management System $2.5 million funded from Digital Capability Fund. The Privacy Commissioner is the institutional counterweight to the surveillance and AI infrastructure being built.

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Where the money comes from

Iron ore royalties. The biggest single State revenue stream. Underpins both State and Commonwealth fiscal positions. The $400 million special dividend Pilbara Ports Authority is forecast to pay in 2026-27 reflects the same iron ore export volumes.

Company tax on mining companies. WA's contribution to Commonwealth company tax in 2024-25 was $24.8 billion. That's the company tax flow to Canberra, mostly from mining.

GST grants. WA's share of the GST is 75 percent of the per-person average, still the lowest of any state. WA's share rose from 70 percent in 2023-24 to 75 percent in 2024-25.

Stamp duty on housing transactions. First home buyer transfer duty changes from 7 May 2026 narrow this but it remains a major State revenue source.

Payroll tax. The biggest tax expenditure (concession) at $2.15 billion, but payroll tax remains a major revenue source.

Land tax. Land tax-free threshold and PPR (Principal Place of Residence) exemption together cost the State about $1.55 billion in foregone revenue.

Public corporation dividends. Government-owned utilities (Water Corporation, Western Power, Synergy, Pilbara Ports, Horizon Power) pay $4.1 billion in dividends and tax-equivalents to general government revenue in 2026-27. They receive $4.6 billion back as operating subsidies, so net the public corporations are -$484 million to general government.

Commonwealth Tied Grants: $42.4 billion across 2025-26 to 2029-30. Sector breakdown: Health $21.8 billion, Education $8.2 billion, Infrastructure $8.2 billion, Training $1.4 billion, Affordable Housing $1.2 billion, Environment $336 million, Community/Disability $170 million, Other $979 million.

State borrowings (WATC): $50.5 billion at end of June 2026, projected to rise to $64.6 billion by 2030. Australian banks hold about 70 percent of WA bonds because banking regulators require banks to hold government paper as part of their liquidity buffers. Reserve Bank of Australia holds about 11 percent. Offshore investors purchased 41 percent of last year's syndicated bond issuance.

Loan Act 2017 cumulative limit: $34.5 billion, with $7.5 billion of authorisation remaining at June 2026. The legal cap on Consolidated Account borrowings.

WA's net contribution to the Federation: $36.2 billion in 2024-25, $12,016 per person. The most under-discussed fact in the Budget. WA contributes $36 billion more to the Federation than it gets back. NSW is the only other state contributing more than it receives, at $1,046 per person, about one-eleventh of WA's per-person contribution. Every other state receives more than it pays. Tasmania receives $11,485 per person. Northern Territory receives $26,564 per person. Across 1986-87 to 2024-25, WA has contributed $449 billion to the rest of the country.

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What stands out

The headline "household charges below inflation seven years running" is real, but the mechanism keeping it real is a $1.279 billion State subsidy paid to Synergy across four years to keep electricity prices below cost.

• That subsidy includes a brand new operating payment, the Cost Growth Assistance Payment, which the Budget Papers describe in plain terms as funding "the under-recovery of the A1 tariff that cannot be passed on to residential customers."
• Cost recovery from residential electricity dropped from 78 percent to 75 percent.
• The Government has chosen to absorb the cost growth rather than pass it through. That's a policy decision, not a market outcome.
• The same Budget reduces the public sector by up to 1,500 positions through the Voluntary Targeted Separation Scheme, $229 million provisioned for separation costs, $445 million in projected savings across the forwards.
• Holding household charges below inflation while reducing the workforce that delivers State services is part of the same fiscal story.

A new Clean Energy Fund of $1.4 billion and a new Major Projects Fund of $500 million are established this Budget.

• Combined with the existing Building Hospitals Fund (about $2.86 billion), Strategic Industries Fund ($638 million unallocated), Future Health Research and Innovation Fund (accumulating to $2.3 billion by 2030), and Social and Affordable Housing Investment Fund ($2.9 billion since inception), there is a substantial pool of capital that moves through Government drawdown approval rather than the annual appropriation process.
• The Loan Act sets a $7.5 billion ceiling on Consolidated Account borrowings; the Special Purpose Accounts sit beside that as a parallel system.
• The Treasurer's Advance, used to spend money in-year outside the main appropriation process, was drawn at $1.527 billion in 2025-26, the highest in years, with another $1.2 billion increase requested.

WA Health is now 32 percent of all general government spending at about $16.7 billion in 2026-27.

• Since 2021, Health has added 5,119 nurses (a 35 percent increase) and 2,102 doctors (a 42 percent increase).
• Health is the single dominant category of State spending. Aboriginal Child Placement Principle compliance has improved by only 1 percentage point from 2024-25, sitting at 62 percent against an 80 percent target.
  • The Budget Papers cite "the limited availability of care arrangements with Aboriginal carers or relatives" as the reason.
• Out-of-Home Care reform is funded at $377.7 million across the forwards.

AUKUS-adjacent infrastructure is becoming visible as line items but the Budget Papers don't describe what most of them are.

The AUKUS Defence Industry Incentive Scheme appears for the first time as a $3.4 million timing reduction in a Treasurer's Advance line, meaning the scheme exists and is being deferred, but its scope is not described.

• Henderson Stage 1 Continuity of Service Funding from the Commonwealth is $30 million for one year, no description of what services.
• The AMC Landing Craft Heavy Program is $30 million new. Pilbara Ports Common User Upgrades is $430 million Commonwealth funding across the period.
• Each piece is small relative to the overall Budget; together they trace a defence industrial program that's referenced without being described.

The State is establishing central AI infrastructure: the AI Investment Fund, the Rapid AI Delivery Team, and the Digital Capability Fund at $301 million in 2026-27 alone.

• It is also deploying generative AI in front-line services like classroom teaching and water utility management.
• The Privacy and Responsible Information Sharing Act 2024 enforcement jurisdiction commences 1 July 2026, in the same year as much of this AI infrastructure ramps up.
• Vendor names are consistently absent from the published budget papers.

WA's net contribution to the Federation is $36.172 billion in 2024-25, $12,016 per person, more than 11 times NSW per capita.

• WA has contributed $449 billion to the rest of the country since 1986-87.
• WA's GST share is still the lowest in the country.
• That's the structural fact the rest of the Budget sits on.

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Sources: 2026-27 WA State Budget Papers: Budget Paper No. 1 (Treasurer's Speech), Budget Paper No. 2 Volumes 1 and 2 (Budget Statements), Budget Paper No. 3 (Economic and Fiscal Outlook including Appendices 1-12), the supporting Agency Works Program. All available at https://www.ourstatebudget.wa.gov.au/2026-27/.

[WA prepares for 'not imminent' Stage 3 - emergency powers legislation amended]

The most significant WA-specific fuel security development in weeks.

The Cook Government today introduced urgent amendments to the Fuel, Energy and Power Resources Act 1972: the legislation underpinning WA's emergency fuel powers.

• The existing Act uses 1970s wording on compensation arrangements for fuel companies affected by government actions, leaving it vulnerable to legal challenge.
• Today's amendments modernise those arrangements and are backdated to take effect from today.
• Premier Cook was explicit about why: "If National Cabinet escalates to level 3 under the National Fuel Security Plan, Western Australia may need to activate additional emergency powers to secure fuel supply for petrol stations and key economic sectors."

The current emergency powers cover Stage 2: compelling information from fuel companies and FuelWatch reporting.

Stage 3 powers would allow the government to direct fuel allocation: where fuel goes and who gets it first.

• The WA Government is making sure those powers are legally bulletproof before they need them.

Stage 3 is "not imminent" at the national level: Albanese confirmed this at National Cabinet last week. But WA is preparing for it regardless.

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[The Strait - RBA raises rates as fuel inflation bites]

The Reserve Bank of Australia (Australia's central bank, responsible for setting interest rates) raised interest rates today.

• When the RBA raises rates, it becomes more expensive to borrow money, which means mortgage repayments go up for millions of Australians.
• The purpose is to slow spending and bring inflation down.

Inflation (measured by the Consumer Price Index, which tracks the cost of a basket of everyday goods and services) hit 4.6% last week.

• That means everyday goods cost 4.6% more on average than they did a year ago.
• The RBA's target range is 2-3%. At 4.6%, inflation is well above target, driven significantly by the fuel price spike caused by the Strait closure.
• Higher fuel costs flow through to almost everything (freight, food, manufacturing) pushing prices up across the economy.

Albanese confirmed the rate rise was expected given those figures.

• He noted the RBA is independent of government and makes its own decisions, but acknowledged the pressure on households: "We understand that people are under financial pressure, and that the global conflict is having an impact right around the world, including here in Australia."

On the Strait: "There are different statements made on a day-to-day basis about what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz, what's happening in the Gulf, what's happening with the conflict. What we want to see is the de-escalation."

On how Australians are responding to Every Little Bit Helps:

• "Australians are doing what they can to save fuel at this time, whether it be catching public transport, working from home, car sharing. All of these measures do make a difference."
• The jerry can hoarding from March has stopped. The campaign is working.

On the overall supply picture: "It would surprise many that there were more ships arrived in April in Australia than arrived in January, February or March."

• 92 shiploads in April v 77 in March and 81 in January.

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[Fiji - fuel security in the Pacific]

Wong and Conroy are travelling to Fiji this week. The framing is explicit: Fiji is a fuel distribution hub for the entire Pacific.

• Fuel flows from Singapore to Fiji and then out to Pacific Island nations.
• If Fiji's supply is disrupted, so is the broader Pacific.

They will meet PM Rabuka and Fiji's Cabinet on the Vuvale Union treaty, and meet Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Baron Waqa on regional energy security.

• The Australia-ROK joint statement last week explicitly named Pacific Island countries as a shared vulnerability.
• This visit is the follow-through.

Wong: "Australia will continue to stand alongside Fiji and other Pacific Island partners to address fuel security challenges, including advocating for open and stable global supply routes so essential shipments can reach our region."

[Budget - EV tax, electric trucks, one week out]

The Budget is one week away.

The EV fringe benefits tax exemption has been confirmed as a Budget measure: scaled back in three phases to save $1.7 billion over five years.

• Full exemption continues until April 2027, then applies only to EVs under $75,000 until 2029, then a permanent 25% discount for all EVs below the luxury car tax threshold from 2029 onwards. Existing leases not affected.

Bowen framed it as the market maturing; when the scheme began there were no EVs under $40,000, now there are approximately 10. The scheme worked. The support continues but is better calibrated.

Also announced today: 30 electric trucks deploying across Sydney and Melbourne freight routes through a $3.65 million ARENA grant.

• EV-as-a-service model: businesses get electric trucks without the full upfront cost.
• Directly relevant to the diesel dependency of urban freight that NatRoad has been raising throughout the crisis.

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[Watch points]

Tuesday 12 May: Federal Budget; one week away. Fuel security measures confirmed. Resilience central theme. Intergenerational equity measures confirmed. Gas contracts protected.

May 11-18: Truck Week

May 26-28: IODS 2026, Perth - Damian Parmenter CBE, former Director General AUKUS and Senior Counsellor Palantir Technologies UK, confirmed speaker

.

Sources: WA Government, Urgent amendments to modernise fuel emergency powers legislation, 5 May 2026 · Albanese doorstop, Murrumba Downs QLD, 5 May 2026 · Wong and Conroy media release, Visit to Fiji, 5 May 2026 · Bowen and Chalmers joint media release, Fairer tax treatment to encourage affordable EVs, 5 May 2026 · Bowen, ABC RN transcript, 5 May 2026 · ARENA media release, Electric trucks, 5 May 2026 · WA FuelWatch data, 5 May 2026

['Project Freedom' - the Strait, the attack, and where Australia stands]

Trump announced "Project Freedom": the US Navy will begin escorting ships trapped in the Strait of Hormuz from Monday, with force threatened if the humanitarian process is interfered with.

An unidentified northbound cargo ship was attacked by multiple small craft off Sirik, Iran, east of the Strait on Sunday; all crew safe, no claim of responsibility.

• The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre confirmed the attack, the first reported since April 22 and at least the two dozen since the conflict began.
• Iranian patrol boats (small, nimble, hard to detect) are responsible for the pattern of attacks throughout the crisis.

Iran's position hardened further over the weekend.

• Deputy parliament speaker Ali Nikzad: "Tehran will not back down from our position on the Strait of Hormuz, and it will not return to its prewar conditions."
• Iran is asserting it controls the Strait and that non-US, non-Israeli ships may pass, if they pay a toll, in direct violation of UNCLOS freedom of navigation principles.
• 49 commercial ships have been turned back by US Central Command.

Iran sent a 14-point peace proposal to the US via Pakistan calling for the US to lift sanctions, end the naval blockade, withdraw forces from the region, and cease all hostilities including Israel's operations in Lebanon.

• No nuclear issues are included: Tehran wants other issues resolved within 30 days first.
• Trump said he was reviewing it but expressed doubt: "They have not yet paid a big enough price."

Wong confirmed Australia is engaging with the US, UK, and France on Strait efforts but made no operational commitment.

• Albanese on Friday: "They haven't been, there hasn't been that determination."

The Japan Enhanced Defence and Security Cooperation agreement signed today explicitly includes closer collaboration to secure critical maritime routes.

• If Australia does eventually contribute assets to a Strait operation, those assets would now operate alongside Japan within a formal framework covering joint planning, intelligence sharing, and interoperability; agreements that did not exist in this form before today

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[China jet fuel - discussions underway, not yet secured]

An important clarification on how this has been framed. Wong on the Today Show this morning was asked directly whether jet fuel from China had been secured.

• Her answer: "I understand that we got an agreement for discussions to occur. I understand those have commenced. Obviously, they're commercial in confidence, and we hope that that will result in Australia receiving more jet fuel."
• Stefanovic: "You haven't secured anything yet, though." Wong confirmed: correct.

What China agreed to was facilitating discussions between Australian and Chinese companies about jet fuel supply. Those discussions are now underway.

• A commercial agreement has not yet been reached.
• The 100 million litres of jet fuel announced Friday came from existing EFA partners, not China.

Wong on the bilateral logic with China: "You give us jet fuel, you give us diesel, it comes back to you as iron ore, coal, and other commodities, LNG, that are necessary for the Chinese economy, and food."

• The same framing has driven every leg of the North Asia diplomatic circuit (Japan, South Korea, China) over the past two weeks.

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[Japan summit - six agreements, the diplomacy culminates]

The Annual Leaders' Meeting with Japanese PM Takaichi today produced six formal agreements: the most substantive single-day diplomatic output of the crisis.

Albanese at the opening: "Once again, we are governing in what are volatile and difficult global economic circumstances, which just underlines how important the relationships between our nations are."

• The original Basic Treaty was also signed during an energy shock: the 1970s oil crisis. The parallel is intentional.

Joint Statement on Energy Security: both countries committed to maintaining open trade flows of liquid fuels and gas and to navigating the current crisis together.

• Australia provides approximately one-third of Japan's total energy supply.
• Japan is a key supplier of refined petroleum and diesel to Australia.

Joint Declaration on Economic Security Cooperation: supply chain resilience for energy, food, critical minerals and critical technologies including AI, quantum, and biotechnology. Both countries will consult each other on economic security contingencies.

Joint Statement on Critical Minerals Cooperation: $1.3 billion support through Critical Minerals Facility and EFA for projects with Japanese involvement. Gallium, nickel, graphite, rare earths, and fluorite named specifically. China has banned gallium exports: Australia and Japan are now co-producing it through the Alcoa Sojitz project.

Joint Statement on Enhanced Defence and Security Cooperation: including closer collaboration to secure critical maritime routes. See Project Freedom section above.

Strategic Cyber Partnership: yearly Cyber Dialogue starting June in Tokyo. Collective hardening of cyber defences, shared awareness of cyber threats, public-private partnerships.

Australia-Japan Leadership Dialogue: 1.5 track dialogue bringing together government, academia, business and civil society at senior levels.

PM Takaichi described Japan and Australia as "quasi-allies", language that goes beyond the formal "Special Strategic Partners" designation. She referenced her updated Free and Open Indo-Pacific doctrine announced in Vietnam the day before, directly linking it to the Australia-Japan relationship.

Japan is Australia's third largest two-way trading partner and second-largest export market. The relationship now has formal architecture across energy, critical minerals, defence, cyber, and people-to-people engagement simultaneously.

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[The fuel - where things stand]

Bowen Saturday update:

• 43 days petrol,
• 33 days diesel,
• 28 days jet fuel.
• 56 ships en route.
• 4 billion litres contracted for the next four weeks.
• 92 shiploads arrived in April; up from 77 in March and 81 in January.

450 million litres additional diesel and 100 million litres additional jet fuel now secured above normal supply levels.

The jet fuel announcement Friday was the first jet fuel secured under Strategic Reserve powers, heading to Brisbane, Perth and Darwin.

Albanese's assessment from the Western Sydney Forum Friday: "What we've managed to do up to this point is frankly much better than the most optimistic assessments were at the beginning of this conflict of where we'd be on May 1."

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[WA - first strategic stockpile delivery imminent]

The WA Government weekly update confirmed the first physical delivery of fuel for the WA Strategic Fuel Stockpile is due to arrive in the Kimberley next week.

• Further shipments expected at Kwinana and Esperance in mid to late May.
• The 12 million litre reserve (4 million litres from the Cambridge Gulf/Wyndham arrangement, 8 million litres from the Rio Tinto/Viva Energy purchase) is moving from announcement to physical delivery.

Fuel companies are reporting distributor allocations have returned to normal. The WA Government noted the consistently small number of retailers reporting outages and Perth having some of the cheapest fuel in the country as evidence the metro supply picture has improved substantially.

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[Truck Week - 11-18 May]

The road freight industry will hold Truck Week nationally from May 11-18: a week of events recognising the drivers, technicians, depot staff and families keeping Australia's supply chains moving.

• The timing is not lost on anyone in the industry.
• NatRoad has been at the front of the fuel crisis response since Day 1, from "businesses are closing today, not in weeks" in early April, to the Senate Select Committee on Productivity appearance calling for structural reform, to the zero-interest loan program opening.
• Truck Week falls in the same week as the Federal Budget.

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[Budget - housing confirmed, Medicare clinics permanent]

Albanese on ABC News Sunday confirmed the Budget will address housing tax settings aimed at intergenerational equity.

• He would not confirm specifics but did not rule out changes to negative gearing or capital gains tax discount.
• Asked about grandfathering existing investments: "People will see the Budget on 12 May."

Medicare Urgent Care Clinics confirmed as permanent:

• $1.8 billion over five years.
• 135 clinics,
• 3 million presentations since June 2023.
• Bulk-billed, walk-in, seven days a week.

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[Watch points]

Tuesday 12 May: Federal Budget; fuel security measures confirmed, resilience central theme, intergenerational equity measures confirmed, gas contracts protected

May 11-18: Truck Week: national recognition week for road freight industry, same week as Budget

May 26-28: IODS 2026, Perth Convention Centre

• Damian Parmenter CBE, former Director General AUKUS and Senior Counsellor Palantir Technologies UK, confirmed speaker

6-8 October: Land Forces 2026, Perth

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Sources: Wong, Today Show transcript, 4 May 2026 · Wong, Sunrise transcript, 4 May 2026 · Wong, Sky News Australia transcript, 4 May 2026 · Wong doorstop, Parliament House, 4 May 2026 · Albanese and Takaichi, opening remarks and media statements, Parliament House, 4 May 2026 · Joint Declaration on Economic Security Cooperation, 4 May 2026 · Joint Statement on Energy Security with Japan, 4 May 2026 · Joint Statement on Critical Minerals Cooperation with Japan, 4 May 2026 · Joint Statement on Enhanced Defence and Security Cooperation with Japan, 4 May 2026 · Strategic Cyber Partnership with Japan, 4 May 2026 · Australia-Japan Leadership Dialogue media release, 4 May 2026 · King, Sky News Australia transcript, 4 May 2026 · Albanese, ABC News transcript, 3 May 2026 · Albanese and Butler joint statement, Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, 3 May 2026 · NatRoad, Truck Week 2026 media release, 4 May 2026 · Bowen weekly fuel update press conference, Sydney, 2 May 2026 · WA Government Weekly Fuel Update, 1 May 2026 · WA FuelWatch data, 4 May 2026

Between January 2025 and April 2026, the Cook Government constructed every layer of infrastructure that a permanent nuclear submarine force requires: physical, energy, water, workforce, governance. HMS Anson has already been at Garden Island. The nuclear foundations course is already running. Continuous shipbuilding has already started. This is a look at what was built, confirmed from primary sources.

The Build

On a morning in late February 2026, a Royal Navy submarine slipped into the anchorage at HMAS Stirling on Garden Island, Western Australia.

• HMS Anson (one of Britain's Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarines) had come for maintenance.
• It was the first time a UK nuclear submarine had ever undergone a maintenance period in Australia.

Twelve Western Australian small and medium enterprises worked on her. Thirty-five locally made components went into keeping her operational. A company called Franmarine, based in Henderson, deployed its mobile underwater biofouling management system; a capability it had demonstrated at Devonport, the home of the Royal Navy's submarine fleet, just the week before. Senior leaders from the Royal Navy and the UK Submarine Delivery Agency toured the facilities at Allship Engineering, Trident Australia, and VEEM while Anson was in port.

The Cook Government put out a media statement. Paul Papalia, WA's Minister for Defence Industries, said the visit demonstrated "the pace of progress across the AUKUS partnership."

• He said WA businesses were "stepping up with the skills, innovation, and expertise needed to support AUKUS."
• He said the state was building "the sovereign capability needed to sustain nuclear-powered submarines" ahead of the Submarine Rotational Force - West commencing from 2027.

The statement was published on the WA Government website on 20 March 2026. It received no significant coverage.

Three weeks later, with the Iran War having closed the Strait of Hormuz and a domestic fuel supply crisis in its third week, the Cook Government convened the Security and Emergency Committee of Cabinet.

• The committee considered two things simultaneously: Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle, and fuel.
• The Premier had written to the five major fuel suppliers demanding supply chain visibility.
• Emergency powers under the Fuel, Energy and Power Resources Act were activated by order of the Governor; the first time those powers had been used in the fuel context in the Act's fifty-year history.

That is the context in which IODS 2026 (the Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference and Exhibition) will open in Perth on 26 May.

• The First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy.
• Australia's incoming Chief of the Defence Force.
• The Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet.
• The Vice Chief of Staff of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force.
• One hundred and ninety companies from nine countries.

This post documents how Western Australia got to this moment. It is built from primary sources; WA Government media statements, AusTender records, parliamentary committee evidence, and the AUKUS trilateral statement of March 2024. Where the evidence supports a conclusion directly, it is stated as a finding. Where it supports an inference, that is made explicit.

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What the optimal pathway actually requires

When the leaders of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States announced the AUKUS Optimal Pathway in San Diego on 13 March 2023, most coverage focused on the submarines.

• Australia would acquire three to five Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines from the United States in the early 2030s, then jointly develop a new SSN-AUKUS class with the UK; the first to enter service around 2040.

The submarines were always the end of the pathway, not the beginning.

The pathway has four components:

• First, establishing a nuclear submarine culture within the Australian military through regulatory frameworks, training programmes, infrastructure, and exchange opportunities.
• Second, the Submarine Rotational Force - West at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia, hosting rotational deployments of US Navy and potentially Royal Navy submarines from 2027.
• Third, the Virginia-class acquisition in the early 2030s.
• Fourth, SSN-AUKUS jointly with the UK.

SRF-West in 2027 is not the end state. It is the first operational test.

Before a single US or UK submarine rotates through Garden Island, Western Australia needs to be able to:

• receive and berth nuclear-powered vessels,
• maintain them to nuclear safety standards,
• fuel and power the precinct at industrial scale,
• train a workforce with nuclear safety culture,
• and integrate with the US and UK defence industrial bases.

The AUKUS Trilateral Statement of March 2024, signed by Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles, UK Secretary of State for Defence Grant Shapps, and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, confirmed AUD $1.5 billion in early priority works at HMAS Stirling.

• The UK House of Commons Defence Committee, reporting in 2025, put the full investment at approximately £4 billion for HMAS Stirling and £12.5 billion for the Henderson Defence Precinct; around AUD $26 billion at current exchange rates for the two sites combined.
• Australia's total AUKUS infrastructure commitment over ten years is at least AUD $18 billion.

AUKUS also has a second pillar.

• Pillar I is the submarine programme.
• Pillar II is the accelerated sharing of advanced defence technologies across eight workstreams:
  • quantum technologies,
  • electronic warfare,
  • undersea capabilities,
  • autonomous systems,
  • hypersonics and counter-hypersonics,
  • cyber,
  • artificial intelligence,
  • and information sharing.

Pillar II is where the digital architecture question lives. It is covered in Part II of this series.

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Why Western Australia

In September 2025, at the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition in London, WA's then-Minister for Defence Industries Amber-Jade Sanderson confirmed what the Cook Government had been building toward for eight years. "Since 2017," she said, "we have been working to position WA as the home of naval ship designing, building and sustainment activities."

That predates the AUKUS announcement by four years.

The geographic logic is straightforward: Garden Island is approximately 2,000 kilometres closer to the South China Sea than Sydney Harbour. The Indian Ocean is WA's front yard. HMAS Stirling is already Australia's largest naval base.

The industrial logic is equally direct: The Australian Marine Complex at Henderson is the only facility in Australia with the dry-dock capacity, the workforce, and the industrial precinct to support depot-level submarine maintenance. Austal, VEEM, Echo Marine Group, Civmec, and a supply chain of specialist SMEs are already there. The Henderson Alliance (an industry body formed years before AUKUS) had been lobbying for continuous naval shipbuilding at the AMC since the mid-2010s.

The political logic followed: The Cook Government's economic diversification agenda (laid out under the Diversify WA framework and later the Made in WA plan) identified defence as a priority industry. When AUKUS was announced in September 2021, WA was not starting from scratch. It was presenting a submission for work it had already begun.

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The physical layer

Continuous shipbuilding started at the AMC on 20 February 2026.

That sentence requires unpacking. The Cook Government announced on that date that an initial $30 million Commonwealth investment would be made in common-use infrastructure at the Australian Marine Complex, and that Austal Defence Australia was confirmed to commence construction of the Australian Army's Landing Craft Heavy at the AMC; a $4 billion programme. The announcement said: "Continuous shipbuilding will now start at the AMC, which will underpin around 10,000 jobs and strengthen the security and resilience of the nation."

• This is what continuous shipbuilding looks like before the nuclear submarines arrive. The LCH programme is the opening entry in a pipeline that runs through to the Virginia-class and beyond.

VEEM Ltd (a Henderson precision engineering company) had already signed a nine-year licence agreement with Northrop Grumman in October 2025, valued at US$33 million, to manufacture precision castings for Virginia-class submarines.

Hofmann Engineering became the first Australian company approved to supply US nuclear-powered naval assets under the AUSSQ programme, supported by a $300,000 Cook Government investment.

• Both are Henderson-based. Both were in the room when the UK Submarine Delivery Agency toured the precinct during HMS Anson's visit.

The $12 billion Henderson Defence Precinct investment (confirmed in the Cook Government's Defence West statutory body release in October 2025) is the infrastructure context for all of it. The precinct is designed to become, in the Cook Government's own words, "the largest naval maintenance and shipbuilding precinct in the southern hemisphere."

On 16 April 2026, the Cook Government used its new State Development Act powers to declare the Western Trade Coast (the industrial precinct that contains Henderson, the AMC, and HMAS Stirling's landside supply chain) as WA's first-ever State Development Area.

• The declaration's explicit objectives include becoming "the largest naval maintenance and shipbuilding precinct in the southern hemisphere."
• The Coordinator General now has statutory oversight over planning, infrastructure, and approvals across the entire precinct.

The Henderson Defence Precinct is no longer an aspiration embedded in a policy document. It is a statutory objective embedded in enacted law, with a dedicated delivery architecture and a named senior official accountable for its realisation.

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The energy layer

The grid that powers Henderson and HMAS Stirling now runs on majority renewable power with large-scale dispatchable storage.

In Q4 2025, the South West Interconnected System recorded 52.4% renewables; a new record.

The Collie Battery Energy Storage System (500 megawatts, 2,400 megawatt hours, $1.6 billion Synergy investment) is operational.

• It is one of the two largest batteries in Australia.

The Warradarge Wind Farm Stage 2 is under construction; 283 megawatts of additional capacity.

• More than one gigawatt of wind power purchase agreements have been signed, with commissioning dates between 2028 and 2029.

The Clean Energy Link North (the largest upgrade to WA's transmission infrastructure in more than a decade) is under construction, connecting Mid West renewables to the SWIS.

• On 16 April 2026, the Cook Government declared Clean Energy Link - Kwinana as a Priority Project under the State Development Act.
• CEL-Kwinana will deliver new terminals and transmission lines to support 900 megawatts of new energy demand in the Western Trade Coast. The release named the Western Trade Coast's demand specifically.

The energy architecture serving the AUKUS geography is not being built alongside the defence precinct. It has been given statutory priority status and $1.4 billion in dedicated funding as a co-requirement.

Then the fuel crisis arrived.

Between 10 March and 14 April 2026, the Cook Government convened a Fuel Security Roundtable, activated emergency powers under the Fuel, Energy and Power Resources Act, appointed a Fuel Security State Controller, stood up a State Management Team, adopted the National Fuel Security Plan at Level 2, purchased 4 million litres of State-owned diesel stored in Wyndham, then expanded the stockpile to 12 million litres stored at Wyndham, Esperance, and Kwinana.

WA's fuel comes predominantly from Singapore refining, via shipping routes that pass through or near the Strait of Hormuz. The Iran War (the conflict Cook named explicitly in government releases) is the same conflict this post's context requires.

• The fuel crisis is what AUKUS force posture in the Indian Ocean is partly designed to deter and manage.
• WA's emergency management apparatus ran a live exercise in it during March and April 2026, six weeks before IODS.

The same conflict's other dimension (the targeting cycle, the platforms running it, and the accountability questions) is covered in Part II of this series.

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The water layer

Nuclear submarine operations require large quantities of fresh water. The Pilbara, where much of WA's strategic industrial geography sits, had a water security problem.

• The Harding Dam (the primary surface water source for the region) was confirmed at 20% capacity in November 2025. The Millstream aquifer was under stress. Annual demand in the West Pilbara was projected to exceed supply by 2030.

On 4 March 2026, the Cook Government announced a $606 million investment to double the capacity of the Dampier Seawater Desalination Plant in partnership with Rio Tinto. Stage 2 will be online in 2027; the same year SRF-West begins.

• The expanded plant will supply eight billion litres of water per year to Karratha, Wickham, Roebourne, and Point Samson. It reduces draw on the Bungaroo and Millstream aquifers.

The water constraint on the Pilbara force posture is being resolved by the same year nuclear submarines begin rotating through WA waters.

At the metropolitan level, the $2.8 billion Alkimos Seawater Desalination Plant is under construction north of Perth, operational mid-2028.

The 2026-27 State Budget allocated $23.8 million for water supply investigations at the Boodarie Strategic Industrial Area near Port Hedland; the Pilbara's emerging green iron and clean energy industrial precinct.

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The workforce layer

On 28 March 2026, WA's first naval nuclear foundations training course launched at Jandakot.

H&B Defence, in partnership with Curtin University, received a $568,000 grant through the Defence Industry Reskilling and Upskilling Programme to deliver the course to an inaugural cohort of 40 participants; engineers, technicians, project managers, and defence-industry support professionals.

• The training is informed by UK and US nuclear-powered submarine programmes.
• It provides "early exposure to the rigorous standards, safety culture and discipline required to operate safely and effectively in nuclear-regulated settings."

The release confirmed the course was triggered by HMS Anson's maintenance period. A second micro-credential, focused on submarine enterprises, regulations, and support infrastructure, is planned for late 2026.

This is the first course in WA (and one of the first in Australia) training people to work in nuclear-regulated environments. It is running eleven months before SRF-West is scheduled to begin.

The workforce architecture has multiple layers.

South Metropolitan TAFE signed a Memorandum of Understanding with City College Plymouth (the UK's submarine workforce training college, located in the city that hosts Devonport) in March 2026.

• The MoU builds on the Defence Industry Skills Centre of Excellence, confirmed by the Cook Government as physically located across South Metropolitan TAFE campuses, including the Naval Base campus at Henderson where AUKUS Defence Industry Incentive apprentices train with Civmec, Austal, ASC, Echo Marine Group, and IKAD.

The BlueForge Alliance Australia MoU, signed in November 2025, plugged WA's training system into the US Navy's primary industrial base workforce development organisation. The same month, the AUKUS SME Readiness Fund ($2 million, grants up to $100,000 at 50% cost share) went live, specifically targeting the US and UK nuclear submarine supply chains.

The 1 March 2026 announcement of the WA Workforce Strategy named defence as one of six priority sectors for a whole-of-economy workforce strategy. Six roundtables, consultation closed 30 April 2026.

The workforce pipeline runs from school career days through TAFE apprenticeships through DIRU micro-credentials through to the nuclear foundations course. It is not a pipeline being designed; it is a pipeline in operation.

The 2026-27 State Budget confirmed $216 million for TAFE and training, including $24.1 million to upgrade South Metropolitan TAFE's Munster campus (the same institution that houses the Defence Industry Skills Centre of Excellence and the Naval Base campus) for training in wind and alternative energy, battery technology, electrification, automation, and robotics.

• The Munster campus sits within the Kwinana Industrial Area, inside the Western Trade Coast State Development Area.

Skills and TAFE Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson, announcing the budget allocation on 1 May 2026, said: "Skills and TAFE training are critical to developing the skilled workforce we need to build homes, hospitals and to deliver AUKUS."

That sentence appeared in a TAFE budget announcement; it was not in a defence policy document. The civilian training budget and the AUKUS programme are, in the Cook Government's own words, the same thing.

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The governance layer

The State Development Act 2025 passed Parliament on 16 December 2025. Its three explicit objectives, embedded in enacted WA statute, are:

• exiting coal-fired power,
• supporting critical minerals and clean downstream products for trading partners,
• and becoming "the largest naval shipbuilding and maintenance hub in the southern hemisphere."

The naval hub is now in WA law.

The Act's declaration of the Western Trade Coast as WA's first State Development Area (SDA) in April 2026 activated the Coordinator General's powers over the entire precinct.

• A State Development Area Plan is being prepared.
• The NeoSmelt green iron project (BlueScope, BHP, Rio Tinto, Woodside, Mitsui) is a declared Priority Project within the same SDA.
• Defence and green iron share a statutory delivery framework.

The AUKUS Community Taskforce, established in February 2026, manages community impacts around HMAS Stirling. Its membership includes:

• DPC,
• the Australian Submarine Agency,
• the Department of Defence,
• Defence West,
• the City of Rockingham,
• and the Rockingham Kwinana Chamber of Commerce.

The Australian Submarine Agency (the Commonwealth body responsible for delivering the entire AUKUS submarine programme) is at the table with the WA Government's central agency.

The 2050 Commission (WA's first productivity commission, reporting to the Premier) will produce Industry Development Action Plans for priority industries. Defence is a named priority sector.

• When the Commission produces an action plan for defence, it will be the first statutory document mapping WA's defence industrial strategy in whole-of-economy terms.

The Westport Authority Bill 2026 introduced a statutory delivery entity for the future container port at Kwinana; in the same Western Trade Coast geography, with $1.1 billion in joint federal-state road investment explicitly serving defence and critical minerals.

• Anketell Road is a freight route. It is also the corridor connecting the future Westport terminal to the Henderson Defence Precinct.

.

IODS 2026

On 26 May 2026, the Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference and Exhibition opens at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.

• General Sir Gwyn Jenkins (First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, leader of the Royal Navy, whose submarine HMS Anson was at Garden Island eight weeks earlier) will attend.
• Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (Australia's incoming Chief of the Defence Force) will attend.
• Admiral Stephen Koehler (Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet) will attend.
• Vice Admiral Yasuhiro Kunimi (Vice Chief of Staff of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force) will attend.

The conference themes are AUKUS, regional security, industrial capability, and critical minerals.

One hundred and ninety companies from nine countries are registered. The exhibition spans three halls of the Perth Convention Centre.

Paul Papalia confirmed the context in the release announcing Katherine Bennell-Pegg as keynote speaker: "The Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference and Exhibition brings together the partners, technologies, and ideas that define modern defence; an event that happens here in Western Australia because WA is where Australia's defence future is being built."

That sentence is not marketing; it is a primary source: WA is where Australia's defence future is being built.

The source log for this post (WA Government primary sources from January 2025 to April 2026) confirms it at every layer. Physical infrastructure. Energy. Water. Workforce. Governance. The builds are not announced, they are underway.

HMS Anson was not the beginning, but a confirmation.

Also confirmed for IODS 2026: Damian Parmenter CBE, former Director General AUKUS at the UK Ministry of Defence, now Senior Counsellor at Palantir Technologies UK, will present.

That thread (what it means for WA's data architecture, for Palantir's position in the AUKUS ecosystem, and for the accountability questions the public record cannot answer) is covered in Part II of this series.

...

Analytical notes

On the convergence of civilian and defence infrastructure. The source log shows that WA's civilian infrastructure (energy, water, transport, digital, surveillance) is being built in the same geography, on the same timelines, and with the same statutory frameworks as the defence infrastructure. The State Development Act treats green iron and the naval hub as co-equal objectives. The SWIS transmission plan serves both the Western Trade Coast's civilian industrial users and HMAS Stirling. The Dampier desal serves mining communities and the Pilbara industrial base that supports the strategic geography. This convergence is not incidental. It is structural.

On the timeline. Every major infrastructure element in this post is scheduled for completion between 2026 and 2029; the same window as SRF-West's establishment and Australia's transition to an operational nuclear submarine support role. The alignment is not coincidental. The source log shows explicit government acknowledgement of the 2027 SRF-West date as an anchor for delivery timelines across energy, water, workforce, and governance.

On what this post cannot confirm. This post does not claim that WA's civilian data architecture is integrated with Palantir's platform. It does not claim that Foundry is deployed in WA government systems. It claims that WA has built the civilian data architecture that Foundry is designed to integrate with, across every domain (health, transport, emergency services, identity, geospatial, and defence) and that the former Director General AUKUS, now at Palantir UK, will be in Perth on 26 May. The question of what that means for data sovereignty, for oversight, and for the public's right to know is the subject of Part II.

On two explanations being consistent with the same evidence. The source log is consistent with two readings. The first: WA is building necessary infrastructure for a legitimate and treaty-based defence alliance, and the civilian-defence convergence is an efficient use of public investment. The second: the integration of civilian and defence data architectures, without public disclosure or parliamentary scrutiny of the vendor relationships involved, creates accountability gaps that democratic governance has not yet addressed. Both readings are supported by the evidence. The public record cannot resolve which is more accurate because the relevant assessments — FOCI compliance findings, privacy impact assessments, the full terms of defence technology contracts — are not public. That is the subject of Part II.

.

Sources

Opening / HMS Anson

• WA Government media statement: "HMS Anson visit proves WA's defence capability," Defence Industries Minister Paul Papalia, 20 March 2026. Primary. [wa.gov.au/government/media-statements]
• WA Government media statement: "New international partnership to strengthen AUKUS workforce," Papalia and Sanderson, 12 March 2026. Primary. (Confirms HMS Anson as first UK nuclear submarine maintenance in Australia; Franmarine biofouling services; 12 SMEs; 35 locally made parts.)
• WA Government media statement: "Grants boost 10 WA businesses' 'Defence Ready' capabilities," Papalia, 16 April 2026. Primary. (Confirms Royal Navy and UK Submarine Delivery Agency toured Allship Engineering, Trident Australia, and VEEM during Anson's visit.)

Fuel crisis

• WA Government media statement: "Premier demands greater transparency from fuel suppliers," Cook, 27 March 2026. Primary. (Security and Emergency Committee of Cabinet; Level 1 State Hazard Plan; letter to five major fuel suppliers; Cyclone Narelle.)
• WA Government media statement: "Cook Government takes decisive action to ensure fuel supply chain visibility," Cook and Sanderson, 1 April 2026. Primary. (Emergency powers activated; Governor's order; Fuel, Energy and Power Resources Act 1972; Iran War and Strait of Hormuz named.)
• WA Government media statement: "National Fuel Security Plan to co-ordinate response to fuel shock," Cook, 30 March 2026. Primary. (National Cabinet Level 2; Iran War named; National Fuel Security Plan endorsed.)

IODS 2026

• WA Government media statement: "30 days until Western Australia's flagship defence event," Papalia, 27 April 2026. Primary. (Full speaker list confirmed: Jenkins, Hammond, Koehler, Kunimi, Parmenter, Spencer, Hooks; 190 companies, nine countries; four conference themes.)
• WA Government media statement: "Astronaut to headline WA defence and security conference," Cook and Papalia, 12 March 2026. Primary. (Bennell-Pegg keynote; IODS led by Defence West, AMDA Foundation, Perth USAsia Centre; Careers Day five domains; Papalia quote "WA is where Australia's defence future is being built.")

AUKUS optimal pathway

• AUKUS Trilateral Statement, 22 March 2024. Signed by Richard Marles MP, Grant Shapps, Lloyd J. Austin III. Primary. (Optimal Pathway; AUD $1.5 billion HMAS Stirling early priority works; SRF-West from 2027; AUD $18 billion Australian 10-year infrastructure commitment.)
• Goddard, Lee. "AUKUS Pillar I: The Industrial Foundations of Allied Deterrence." National Bureau of Asian Research, 2025. Secondary — senior ADF officer. (Four components of Optimal Pathway; Pillar I-II distinction; "window for action is immediate and critical.")
• UK House of Commons Defence Committee, Eighth Report on AUKUS, 2025. Primary — parliamentary committee. (£4 billion HMAS Stirling; £12.5 billion Henderson Defence Precinct; £16.5 billion combined.)
• JSCOT Report 228, Ms Mikaela James, ASA Acting Head Policy Strategy and Engagement, testimony 2 October 2025. Primary — parliamentary evidence. (18-month consultation period September 2021 to March 2023; Optimal Pathway four components verbatim.)

Why WA

• WA Government media statement: "WA defence industry showcased at DSEI 2025," then-Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson, 11 September 2025. Primary. ("Since 2017 we have been working to position WA as the home of naval ship designing, building and sustainment activities.")

Physical layer — Henderson, AMC, continuous shipbuilding

• WA Government media statement: "Commonwealth investment to support shipbuilding and create jobs," Cook, Papalia, Carey, 20 February 2026. Primary. ($30 million initial Commonwealth AMC investment; Austal Defence Australia confirmed for LCH $4 billion programme; continuous shipbuilding confirmed started.)
• WA Government media statement: "Cook Government's nation-leading AUKUS SME Readiness Fund open," Papalia, 3 November 2025. Primary. ($2 million fund; grants to $100,000; US and UK nuclear submarine supply chains.)
• WA Government media statement: "Cook Government bolsters defence industry capability," Papalia, 7 October 2025. Primary. (Defence West statutory body; $12 billion Henderson Defence Precinct investment; VEEM Northrop Grumman US$33 million licence for Virginia-class castings; Hofmann Engineering AUSSQ approval.)
• WA Government media statement: "Cook Government to fast-track key industrial precinct and projects," Cook and Sanderson, 16 April 2026. Primary. (Western Trade Coast declared first State Development Area; Henderson Precinct named as "largest naval maintenance and shipbuilding precinct in the southern hemisphere"; NeoSmelt as Priority Project; $90 million SIF.)
• WA Government media statement: "Grants boost 10 WA businesses' 'Defence Ready' capabilities," Papalia, 16 April 2026. Primary. (Allship Engineering CNC forming machine; 45% veterans workforce; UK Submarine Delivery Agency tour.)

Physical layer — State Development Act

• WA Government media statement: "Legislation to drive WA's investment and growth pass Parliament," Cook and Sanderson, 16 December 2025. Primary. (State Development Act 2025 passed; three objectives including naval hub; Coordinator General powers; Cook quote "These laws will give us the powers necessary to secure investment in major clean energy and defence manufacturing projects.")

Energy layer

• WA Government media statement: "Report reveals record renewables as demand for coal drops," Sanderson, 29 January 2026. Primary. (SWIS 52.4% renewables Q4 2025; coal -5.8%, gas -16.4%; 32% drop in wholesale prices.)
• WA Government media statement: "Big battery key to Collie's renewable energy powerhouse transition," Cook, Sanderson, Punch, 8 February 2026. Primary. (Collie BESS 500MW/2,400MWh operational; $1.6 billion Synergy investment; one of two largest batteries in Australia.)
• WA Government media statement: "Government plans WA's clean energy future with $1.4 billion fund," Cook and Sanderson, 27 April 2026. Primary. ($1.4 billion Clean Energy Fund; CEL-East; CEL-Kwinana as Priority Project; 900MW new demand for Western Trade Coast; CEL-North completion late 2027.)
• WA Government media statement: "Cook Government to fast-track key industrial precinct and projects," Cook and Sanderson, 16 April 2026. Primary. (CEL-Kwinana declared Priority Project; WTC SDA serving defence and energy simultaneously.)
• WA Government media statement: "Cook Labor Government secures 8 million litres of diesel for WA," Cook and Sanderson, 23 April 2026. Primary. (12 million litres total; Wyndham, Esperance, Kwinana; Rio Tinto and Viva Energy; State-owned strategic stockpile.)
• WA Government media statement: "Cook Government takes decisive action to ensure fuel supply chain visibility," 1 April 2026. Primary. (Emergency powers; Iran War; Strait of Hormuz.)

Water layer

• WA Government media statement: "Expanded desalination plant to help secure Pilbara's water supply," Cook, Punch, Sanderson, 4 March 2026. Primary. ($606 million; Rio Tinto partnership; Stage 2 online 2027; eight billion litres/year; Bungaroo and Millstream aquifer reduction.)
• WA Government media statement: "Alkimos desalination project milestone securing WA's water future," Cook and Punch, 16 March 2026. Primary. ($2.8 billion; jack-up barge arrived; operational mid-2028; 50 billion litres.)
• WA Government media statement: "Cook Government boosts water security with record budget funding," Punch, 26 April 2026. Primary. ($2.7 billion water infrastructure 2026-27; $606 million Dampier desal confirmed in budget; $23.8 million Boodarie SIA water supply.)

Workforce layer

• WA Government media statement: "Nuclear foundations course prepares WA for AUKUS," Sanderson and Papalia, 28 March 2026. Primary. (H&B Defence + Curtin University; $568,000 DIRU grant; 40-person inaugural cohort; informed by UK and US nuclear programmes; HMS Anson as trigger; second micro-credential late 2026.)
• WA Government media statement: "New international partnership to strengthen AUKUS workforce," Sanderson and Papalia, 12 March 2026. Primary. (SM TAFE-City College Plymouth MoU; Defence Industry Skills Centre of Excellence at SM TAFE; SRF-West 2027 reference.)
• WA Government media statement: "Cook Government supports AUKUS workforce development with BlueForge Alliance MoU," Papalia, 6 November 2025. Primary. (BlueForge Alliance Australia MoU; Defence West and DTWD in US submarine industrial base strategy.)
• WA Government media statement: "AUKUS Community Taskforce established to engage local community," Cook, 3 February 2026. Primary. (Taskforce membership including Australian Submarine Agency and Department of Defence; $100 million two Rockingham high schools; Defence Industry Skills Centre of Excellence at South Metropolitan TAFE campuses confirmed.)
• WA Government media statement: "Roundtables with WA leaders to underpin new workforce strategy," Sanderson, 1 March 2026. Primary. (Defence as named priority sector; six roundtables; consultation closes 30 April 2026.)
• WA Government media statement: "Cook Labor Government delivers $216 million TAFE and training boost," Sanderson, 1 May 2026. Primary. ($24.1 million South Metropolitan TAFE Munster campus; Sanderson quote naming AUKUS in TAFE budget context.)

Governance layer

• WA Government media statement: "Legislation to drive WA's investment and growth pass Parliament," 16 December 2025. Primary. (State Development Act 2025; three statutory objectives; Coordinator General; Cook quote.)
• WA Government media statement: "Cook Government to fast-track key industrial precinct and projects," 16 April 2026. Primary. (WTC as first SDA; Coordinator General oversight; SDA Plan; Scaife quote "From green iron to defence, this is about making more things in WA.")
• WA Government media statement: "AUKUS Community Taskforce established," 3 February 2026. Primary. (ASA and Defence at the table.)
• WA Government media statement: "2050 Commission to help deliver WA's economic future," Cook and Saffioti, 6 February 2026. Primary. (2050 Commission; Industry Development Action Plans; defence as named priority sector; legislation second half 2026.)
• WA Government media statement: "Westport Authority to drive delivery of Kwinana's new container port," Saffioti, 10 March 2026. Primary. (Westport Bill 2026 introduced; statutory delivery entity.)
• WA Government media statement: "Joint media statement — Delivering $1.1 billion to strengthen supply chains and boost productivity in Western Australia," Cook and Saffioti, 29 April 2026. Primary. ($1.1 billion Anketell Road; defence and critical minerals named explicitly; $117.9 million additional State Budget for Westport.)

[Bowen Saturday update - 2 May]

• 43 days petrol - down 1 from last week, still 7 days more than when the conflict began.
• 33 days diesel - steady.
• 28 days jet fuel - down 2 from last week. 56 ships en route.

Forward contracted supply for the next four weeks; 4 billion litres total:

• 2 billion litres diesel,
• 577 million litres petrol,
• 516 million litres jet fuel,
• 813 million litres crude oil for refining.

April total: 92 shiploads of fuel arrived; up from 77 in March and 81 in January.

• Bowen: "I think Australians can take confidence in the fact that fuel has continued to arrive, and in fact we have more fuel in Australia today than we did when this international crisis began."

Trump acknowledged this week there is no agreement with Iran in sight.

• Bowen: "Australia is very well placed to weather this storm. But it would be better if the storm ended."

[Jet fuel - first Strategic Reserve jet fuel secured]

The most significant fuel announcement of the week:

• 100 million litres of jet fuel secured under Strategic Reserve powers; the first jet fuel secured through this mechanism since the conflict began.
• Two shipments heading to Brisbane and Perth.
• Plus an additional 50 million litres of diesel to Darwin.

Combined total now stands at 450 million litres of additional diesel and 100 million litres of additional jet fuel above normal supply levels.

Jet fuel has been the most vulnerable fuel type throughout the crisis - consistently sitting at the lowest reserve level of the three primary fuels.

• This is the government's direct response to that pressure, and the China jet fuel discussions Wong held in Beijing this week are part of the same effort.

Albanese at the Western Sydney Forum: "Combine this amounts to 450 million litres of additional diesel and 100 million litres of additional jet fuel on top of the normal arrangements that apply. More shipments are expected under these agreements in the coming days and weeks."

[The Strait - no agreement in sight]

Trump acknowledged this week there is no agreement with Iran in sight. The ceasefire continues to hold but negotiations have not progressed to a permanent resolution. The Strait remains effectively closed; now into its third month.

• Albanese at the Western Sydney Forum: "We don't know when this war will end. We don't know what the consequences will be. We don't know if the Strait of Hormuz will be open, what the time frame is."

On ABC RN Saturday Extra, Albanese made the most direct public comment yet on the decision to launch Operation Epic Fury: "The fact that it made the decision, without consulting allies, to launch the war on Iran is a different position from where they've been historically. And the world is adjusting to that change."

• Asked directly whether he thought it was a mistake: did not say yes, did not say no.
• Said Iran needed to be prevented from getting a nuclear weapon.

But the framing of "a different position from where they've been historically" is the clearest signal yet that Albanese regards the failure to consult allies as a significant departure from the alliance norms Australia has relied upon.

On a US proposal to reopen the Strait: "We'll have those discussions privately. We'll engage in anything that can assist."

Asked directly whether Australian forces would join efforts: "They haven't been, there hasn't been that determination."

[The mandatory reporting picture - what it means]

The WA Government confirmed on May 1 what the data showed Thursday night: the expansion of FuelWatch to all retailers adds 203 additional sites. The government itself warned outage numbers would rise because reporting was previously voluntary.

"Reported outages may rise as retailers will now be required to report all supply-related disruptions, whereas reporting was previously voluntary."

The sites now consistently appearing in the mandatory picture fall into two categories.

The first is remote and Aboriginal community sites that have been structurally dry throughout the crisis and possibly before it; Looma Community Store on the Dampier Peninsula, Jarlmadangah Burru in the Kimberley, Punmu Community in the Great Sandy Desert near Telfer.

• Punmu Community: approximately 1,100km northeast of Perth in the Gibson Desert. As of 2 May Fuelwatch data: Dry on both ULP and diesel.
  • Without fuel, remote desert communities lose power generation, water pumping, and food refrigeration.
• These are the communities that ministers have referenced throughout the crisis when discussing remote community diesel vulnerability. They are now in the data.

The second is regional sites that simply weren't reporting before; roadhouses, IGA stores, independent operators across the Wheatbelt, Goldfields, and Mid West whose supply situation has been invisible throughout the series.

The WA Government's own weekly update notes: "Fuel companies remain confident of fuel supply into Western Australia and distributors are reporting that their allocations have returned to normal."

• The metro and major regional picture has genuinely improved.
• What mandatory reporting reveals is the structural, pre-existing vulnerability of remote communities that was never captured in the voluntary system.

Penalties have increased from $1,000 to $4,000. 78 infringements total since the conflict began, 33 under the higher penalty.

FuelWatch had 5,098,248 website visits in March and 3,886,300 in April.

First strategic fuel stockpile delivery imminent: The first physical delivery of fuel for the WA Strategic Fuel Stockpile is due to arrive in the Kimberley next week. Further shipments expected at Kwinana and Esperance in mid to late May.

[What Albanese said - Saturday Extra]

The RN Saturday Extra interview on Saturday morning is the most candid political interview of the series. Key statements:

• Inflation hit 4.6%. Interest rates will "almost certainly rise again."
• On Operation Epic Fury being launched without consulting allies: "a different position from where they've been historically."
• On Australia building relationships that are now delivering fuel security dividends: "We are reaping the benefit at the moment through the deals that we've been able to do on fuel security."
• On King Charles's speech to Congress - widely interpreted as a coded critique of Trump: "Terrific. Very respectful... he put a view that was strong."
• On Mark Carney: expressed support, noted Carney used language from Albanese's own UN speech. "Middle powers needed to work together"; Albanese claimed priority on that framing.
• On One Nation's rise: attributed partly to algorithmic polarisation and partly to the Liberal National Coalition's failure to put forward a positive agenda. Did not mention Pauline Hanson by name.
• On the broader global picture: land war in Europe, conflict in Middle East, rise of protectionism, rise of populism. "We have a breakdown in the system of norms that we could take for granted... Some of the certainties that were there have been taken away from us."

[What comes next]

Tomorrow, Sunday 3 May: Japanese PM Takaichi arrives in Australia.

Monday 4 May: Australia-Japan Annual Leaders' Meeting, Parliament House, Canberra. 50th anniversary of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation. Fuel security central to the agenda.

Monday 4 May: Royal Commission on Antisemitism first hearing block begins, Sydney.

This week: Further EFA cargo announcements expected.

Tuesday 12 May: Federal Budget: fuel security measures confirmed, resilience central theme, intergenerational equity measures confirmed, gas contracts protected, east coast gas reservation design details imminent.

May 26-28: IODS 2026, Perth Convention Centre:

Damian Parmenter CBE: former Director General AUKUS and Senior Counsellor Palantir Technologies UK, confirmed speaker.

6-8 October: Land Forces 2026, Perth.

Sources: Bowen weekly fuel update press conference, Sydney, 2 May 2026 · Albanese and Farrell and Bowen media release, Additional jet fuel and additional diesel secured, 1 May 2026 · Albanese, Daily Telegraph Western Sydney Forum speech and Q&A, 1 May 2026 · Albanese doorstop, Sydney, 1 May 2026 · Albanese, ABC RN Saturday Extra transcript, 2 May 2026 · WA Government Weekly Fuel Update, 1 May 2026 · WA Government, Stronger FuelWatch rules media release, 1 May 2026 · Conroy media release, Solid rocket motor manufacturing, 30 April 2026 · WA Government, Land Forces 2026 Defence West media release, 30 April 2026 · WA Government, 1.9 gigawatts renewable energy, 2 May 2026 · WA FuelWatch data, 2 May 2026

[The mandatory reporting picture - what we couldn't see before]

From 1 May, all WA fuel retailers are legally required to report their prices and availability to FuelWatch. Tonight's data is the first full mandatory reporting picture and shows the true statewide extent.

• The WA Government's emergency powers, the mandatory reporting expansion, the 68 FuelWatch infringement notices, the letters to 700 retailers about price margins; all of this was aimed at surfacing exactly this picture. It is now visible.

The standard daily outage count we've been tracking (which hit a series low of 9 yesterday) measured only the sites actively reporting under the voluntary system.

• It shows a regional and remote WA supply crisis that has been invisible in the voluntary reporting system throughout this entire series.

This is not a sudden deterioration. This is what was always there.

The outage geography under mandatory reporting spans the full breadth of regional and remote WA:

• the Wheatbelt interior,
• Goldfields,
• Mid West,
• Great Southern,
• Kimberley,
• Gascoyne,
• Pilbara,
• and desert communities.

The full list runs to approximately 100 sites across diesel and ULP combined.

The Kimberley Aboriginal community sites now visible in mandatory reporting (Looma, Ardyaloon, Cygnet Bay, Lombadina, Jarlmadangah Burru, Yakanarra, Kururrungku) are the precise communities that ministers have been referencing throughout the crisis when discussing remote community diesel vulnerability. They are now in the data.

• These are remote Aboriginal communities for whom diesel powers water, food refrigeration, and essential services.

[The Strait - nine weeks in]

Albanese at the Chamber of Minerals and Energy on Wednesday: "It has been just under nine weeks since the war in the Middle East began."

• The ceasefire announced by Trump continues to hold.
• Peace talks in Pakistan are ongoing but no agreement has been reached.
• The Strait remains effectively closed.

Albanese named two structural barriers to recovery that will persist even after any agreement:

• energy infrastructure damage across the region,
• and sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Even if the Strait opens tomorrow, mine-clearing operations will delay normal shipping. This is the first time mines have been explicitly named in official statements as a specific obstacle to recovery.

"The economic disruption and cost of living pressures caused by the biggest spike in petrol and diesel prices in history, will be with us even longer than that."

[Australia-South Korea joint statement on energy security - 30 April]

Wong concluded her North Asia tour in Seoul on Thursday with the most significant bilateral fuel security commitment of the crisis.

Australia and the Republic of Korea signed a Joint Statement on Energy Resource Security.

Key commitment: mutual notification and consultation on potential trade disruptions; if South Korea faces supply constraints affecting diesel exports to Australia, they are now formally obligated to warn Australia in advance.

Both countries committed to addressing:

• unjustified import and export restrictions,
• supporting open trade arrangements for liquid fuels,
• and working together to uphold energy resilience for Pacific Island countries.

The supply relationship confirmed on the record for the first time: South Korea is Australia's:

• largest supplier of diesel,
• second largest supplier of petrol,
• and third largest supplier of jet fuel.

Approximately 70% of South Korea's own oil originally transited the Strait of Hormuz; both countries are disproportionately affected.

• Wong: "Your diesel and your jet fuel enables us to continue to provide LNG exports, but also other commodities to Korea and to the region. We depend on you, and you depend on us."

This joins the Singapore SAFTA Protocol, the Brunei Joint Statement, and the Indonesia urea agreement as binding diplomatic architecture built during the crisis. Along with those statements, Wong framed it as putting Australia "in a strong position to manage our fuel security through the ongoing disruption."

[China - jet fuel and aviation fuel confirmed]

Wong's eighth Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue with Wang Yi in Beijing confirmed China as a supplier of aviation fuel to Australia.

• Wong to Wang Yi: "The inputs China provides to Australia, including aviation fuel, support Australia's resources sector, which in turn helps to maintain the flow of commodities which underpin our bilateral trading relationship."

New detail: "We appreciate the Chinese Government facilitating engagement with Australia's businesses on jet fuel."

• China is actively helping Australian businesses access jet fuel supply, presumably through Chinese state-owned energy companies.
• Albanese confirmed he spoke directly with Premier Li about jet fuel supply from China.

[Japan - mutual dependence framing, PM visit confirmed]

Wong in Tokyo met Foreign Minister Motegi and Economy Minister Akazawa. The framing across both meetings was consistent: Japan and Australia are mutually dependent, not in a one-directional supply relationship.

• Australian LNG and food exports to Japan enable Japanese diesel and jet fuel exports to Australia.
• Neither country can afford to let the other run dry.

Wong noted the original Japan-Australia Basic Treaty was also signed during an energy shock; the 1970s oil crisis. "Whilst we would prefer it were not so, it reminds us that we've been partners for decades."

Japanese PM Takaichi arrives in Australia Sunday 3 May for her first official visit since taking office.

Annual Leaders' Meeting Monday 4 May at Parliament House. Albanese has confirmed extensive meetings are planned.

[Budget - fuel security confirmed, gas contracts protected]

Albanese's CME speech Wednesday was the largest pre-Budget speech of the cycle. Key confirmations:

• The Budget will include fuel security measures for the long term. First explicit confirmation.
• Existing gas export contracts will not be undermined. "This is why I can confirm that the Budget will not undermine existing contracts on gas exports." The east coast domestic gas reservation (modelled on the WA system) is proceeding but will apply to future projects, not existing contracts.

The logic Albanese stated explicitly for the first time: "Our gas exports are directly linked to our national fuel security. And the middle of a global fuel crisis is the worst possible time to jeopardise these partnerships, or the investment that underpins them."

• The reliability of Australian gas exports is the reason regional partners are prioritising Australia for diesel and jet fuel supply.
• Undermining that reliability would cost more in lost fuel supply than it would gain in tax revenue.

East coast gas reservation design details are "not far away from announcement" - Albanese at the Perth doorstop.

The Budget theme confirmed: resilience.

• "That equation has changed. Fundamentally." - on the decades-long assumption that Australia could rely on offshore supply chains.

Albanese confirmed inflation figures released Thursday are expected to be higher due to fuel price impacts.

[WA - Anketell Road and Western Trade Coast]

$1.1 billion for Anketell Road ($552 million federal, $552 million state) to build the freight corridor to the future Westport container terminal at Kwinana.

• WA committed a further $118 million for land acquisition, marine infrastructure planning, and Westport operations.
• Albanese connected this directly to the Henderson Defence Precinct: "It sits alongside the generational $12 billion investment our Government is making in the Henderson Defence Precinct."
• The freight corridor serves both civilian trade and continuous naval shipbuilding simultaneously.

WA also launched its Seven Cities vision: Bunbury, Kalgoorlie, Port Hedland, Karratha, Broome, Geraldton, and Albany identified as regional economic hubs.

• Several of these cities have been persistent FuelWatch outage locations throughout the series.

[Defence - Precision Strike Missiles, Meghan Quinn, Greg Moriarty]

$2.3 billion for Precision Strike Missiles and HIMARS; second long-range fires regiment at Edinburgh SA. PrSM current range 500km, with ambition to double to approximately 1,000km.

• From northern Australia that range would reach deep into Southeast Asia.

Meghan Quinn appointed first female Defence Secretary, starting 18 May. Greg Moriarty (outgoing Defence Secretary who led Australia through the entire AUKUS negotiation and NDS development) becomes Australia's new Ambassador to the United States.

• Sending Australia's most senior defence bureaucrat to Washington at the moment of maximum alliance strain from Trump's public criticism of Australia is a deliberate signal.

US Ambassador David Brat nominated after 15-month gap.

• Tea Party conservative.
• AUKUS position not yet publicly stated.
• Marles: "We can absolutely work with him."

UK AUKUS parliamentary inquiry: supportive overall, but flagged concerns about UK investment pace and whether deadlines can be met.

• Marles confident Australia's position is sound.

[What else]

The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion delivered its Interim Report Thursday.

• 14 recommendations, all accepted by the Commonwealth.
• Finding: existing legal frameworks did not hinder agencies in preventing or responding to the Bondi attack.
• No urgent changes required.
• First hearing block starts Monday 4 May in Sydney.

Anthropic briefed Australian critical infrastructure operators directly on AI cyber threats.

• Home Affairs Minister Burke rejected the premise that this "bypassed" his department but confirmed agencies are engaged with critical infrastructure on AI threats.
• The question of who coordinates AI threat briefings to critical infrastructure (and whether Home Affairs or Anthropic leads that conversation) is an open governance question.

AEMO Q1 2026 data:

• Renewables supplied 46.5% of NEM generation; new quarterly record.
• Wholesale electricity prices down 12% year on year.
• Batteries set prices in 32% of NEM dispatch intervals; the most frequent price-setting technology in Q1.
• Gas generation lowest since Q4 1999.
• 350,000+ home batteries installed.
• 77% of uptake in outer suburbs and regional areas.

[Watch points]

Sunday 3 May: Japanese PM Takaichi arrives Australia

Monday 4 May: Australia-Japan Annual Leaders' Meeting, Parliament House

Monday 4 May: Royal Commission on Antisemitism first hearing block begins, Sydney

This week: Further EFA cargo announcements expected - Bowen confirmed

May 12: Federal Budget - fuel security measures confirmed, resilience central theme

May 26-28: IODS 2026, Perth Convention Centre — Damian Parmenter CBE, former Director General AUKUS and Senior Counsellor with Palantir Technologies UK, confirmed speaker

Sources: Wong press conference, Seoul, 30 April 2026 · Australia-ROK Joint Statement on Energy Resource Security, 30 April 2026 · Wong, Bowen and King joint media release, Australia-ROK joint statement on energy security, 30 April 2026 · Wong opening remarks, eighth Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue with Wang Yi, Beijing, 29 April 2026 · Wong opening remarks, meeting with Han Zheng, Beijing, 29 April 2026 · Wong opening remarks, meetings with Motegi and Akazawa, Tokyo, 28 April 2026 · Albanese, Chamber of Minerals and Energy speech, Perth, 29 April 2026 · Albanese and Cook doorstop, Perth, 29 April 2026 · Albanese press conference, Sydney, 28 April 2026 · Albanese, ABC Perth Drive transcript, 28 April 2026 · Marles doorstop, Parliament House, 28 April 2026 · Marles, Sky News Newsday transcript, 28 April 2026 · Albanese, Royal Commission on Antisemitism press conference, Sydney, 30 April 2026 · Bowen, AEMO energy transition media release, 30 April 2026 · Joint media release, Anketell Road, 29 April 2026 · Media release, Japanese PM Takaichi visit, 28 April 2026 · WA FuelWatch data, 30 April 2026 (first mandatory reporting day)

[The Strait - ceasefire holding, talks stalled]

The ceasefire announced by Trump on Tuesday continues to hold through the long weekend.

• US and Iranian delegates have returned to Pakistan for further talks, but Marles on Anzac Day described the ceasefire as "fragile" and said the world needs it to become permanent.
• Peace talks have not progressed to a formal agreement.

Wong, departing today for Japan, China, and South Korea: "The peace talks are more pressing than a few days ago when we started seeing the price of unleaded dropping."

• She confirmed she spoke to Pakistan's Foreign Minister this week.
• The trip is explicitly framed around fuel security; South Korea named as "one of Australia's most important sources of refined fuels, including diesel, automotive gasoline and aviation fuel."
• The eighth Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue with Wang Yi in Beijing will also cover fuel and energy security alongside broader strategic issues.

[Bowen Sunday update - 26 April]

Delivered Sunday in observance of Anzac Day.

• 44 days petrol: down 2 from last Saturday, but still 8 days more than when the conflict began.
• 33 days diesel: up 1 from the crisis start.
• 30 days jet fuel: up 1 from the crisis start.
• 58 ships en route as of Saturday night: down from 61, as several docked during the week. Several more expected to dock Sunday.

Forward contracted supply for the next four weeks now 4.6 billion litres; up from 4.1 billion last week.

• The increase is primarily diesel, up approximately 500 million litres to 2.6 billion litres total.
• 624 million litres petrol,
• 489 million litres jet fuel,
• 939 million litres crude oil for refining.

Bowen confirmed further cargo announcements are expected this week as EFA negotiations with BP, Viva, Ampol, IOR, and Park Fuels continue.

On new refineries: "When a refinery closes, it's effectively dismantled. The time to save the four that closed was between 2013 and 2022. You can't rustle them back."

• No active taxpayer-funded refinery rebuilding discussions.
• The two existing refineries will be supported and maintained.

[Wong's North Asia trip - fuel security diplomacy]

Wong departed today for Tokyo, Beijing, and Seoul. The official framing is unambiguous: this is a fuel security mission.

• Japan is a Special Strategic Partner; Wong will meet Foreign Minister Motegi and industry leaders on energy and fuel security.
• In Beijing, the eighth Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue with Wang Yi; China named as a supplier of aviation fuel and other inputs.
• In Seoul, Foreign Minister Cho; South Korea explicitly named as one of Australia's most important sources of diesel, petrol, and aviation fuel.

The trip mirrors the Prime Minister's Southeast Asia visits to Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

• The government is systematically working its way through every major regional supplier.

[What else - long weekend]

IODS 2026 - Perth, 26-28 May.

The Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference will be headlined by incoming CDF Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, First Sea Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, and US Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler.

Among the confirmed speakers:

• Damian Parmenter CBE, former Director General AUKUS, and Senior Counsellor with Palantir Technologies UK.

The conference themes are AUKUS, regional security, industrial capability, and critical minerals. Perth, 26-28 May.

WA Clean Energy Fund - $1.4 billion.

Clean Energy Link East declared a priority project under the State Development Act 2025.

• Will deliver 3 gigawatts of renewable energy to approximately 1 million homes by 2029.
• The structural long-term answer to fossil fuel dependency is being built into WA's grid in parallel with the immediate crisis response.

[Watch points]

This week: Wong in Japan, China, South Korea - fuel security diplomacy

This week: Further EFA cargo announcements expected - Bowen confirmed

Wednesday April 29: WA fuel retailers deadline to respond to Consumer Protection Commissioner on price margins

Friday May 1: Mandatory FuelWatch reporting begins for all WA retailers

Coming weeks: National Cabinet again

May 12: Federal Budget

May 26-28: IODS 2026, Perth Convention Centre

Sources: Bowen weekly fuel update press conference, Sydney, 26 April 2026 · Wong doorstop, Adelaide, 27 April 2026 · Wong media release, Visit to Japan, China and Republic of Korea, 27 April 2026 · Marles and Conroy, Bushmasters press conference, Bendigo, 27 April 2026 · Marles and Conroy joint media release, Securing advanced manufacturing in Bendigo, 27 April 2026 · Marles, ABC RN Breakfast transcript, 27 April 2026 · Marles, Sky News Weekend First Edition transcript, 25 April 2026 · WA Government, IODS 2026 media release, 27 April 2026 · WA Government, Clean Energy Fund media release, 27 April 2026 · WA FuelWatch data, 27 April 2026